Legend has it that in 1958, Jerry Lee Lewis, annoyed over losing an argument with Chuck Berry about who would get to close a show, went on first and finished his set by setting fire to his piano. On his way offstage, Lewis supposedly said “Let’s see the son of a bitch follow that.”

Janelle Monae did not (literally) take a match to anything on the Metropolis stage Wednesday night, but she could easily say the same thing about the rest of the headliners at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. This was an electric performance that set the bar ridiculously high before the festival has even officially started.

Playing off her highly-animated ArchOrchestra, which featured up to 12 musicians on stage, Monae mixed selections from her ambitious epic The ArchAndroid with some new songs and a few left-field covers.

The tuxedo-clad Monae danced up a storm, mixing James Brown grace (she was even covered with a cape by her sideman during the funk-overdrive burner Tightrope) with Michael Jackson moonwalk and twirls, along with everything from tap to robotic moves and home-brewed steps thrown into the mix.

At one point during Cold War, Monae was leaping, starting a clapalong over her head, pirouetting, shadow-boxing and aggressively working the mic stand – all within about 30 seconds. And the extended version of Come Alive (The War of the Roses) that ended the concert was a tour de force – a level of sheer physical showmanship one rarely gets to see anymore.

The music was the same ungodly stew of funk, R&B, hip hop, old-school soul and rock that left critics slack-jawed over The ArchAndroid. Monae’s choice in covers said much about the range of her musical taste: Charlie Chaplin (Smile), Prince (Take Me With U) and the Jackson Five (I Want You Back).

Although Monae winningly sank her powerful voice into more ballad-oriented material like Smile and the new song Dorothy Dandridge Eyes, this was, essentially, an evening to throw caution with the wind and follow Monae wherever the groove led.

At the end of the concert, Monae and band gave away the painting she had completed while singing Mushrooms & Roses. She then announced that they would return in the future.

Given the adoring reception they got, that would not be a surprise. Don’t bet against the venue being an arena next time, though. It’s hard to see anything but superstardom ahead.